


Wedding Ring Shuffle

by a_q



Category: Wanted (2008), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Bathtubs, Bruises, Drinking, Fluff, Hotels, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Twins, Wedding Rings, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-18
Updated: 2012-12-18
Packaged: 2017-11-21 11:44:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/597375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_q/pseuds/a_q
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Don't ask Wesley to be the best man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wedding Ring Shuffle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BeautifulDarkTwistedFantasy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautifulDarkTwistedFantasy/gifts).



> Written for XMFC Holiday Exchange, from requests of incorporating Wesley Gibson, weddings and genre hurt/comfort(ish).

_”Problem.”_

”No. No problems. Not to today. Wesley, you swore!”

_”It's not me! It's your goddamn fiance. He's in the tub.”_

”What?”

_”And it's going to take him a while to get out.”_

”Are you kidding me? It's six in the morning, the guests arrive in ten hours. You two should be here by now!”

_”I said a problem, didn't I? There's more.”_

”No there isn't,” Charles said, clutching the receiver and leaning to rest his head against the writing desk. It was sturdy, comforting. He thumped his head against it. “I don't want to hear it.”

_“I'm in jail.”_

“Erik is alone?” Charles straightened up, rummaging around for a pen. “Where did you leave him?”

_“What, you don't even care I'm stuck in this hole? Thanks.”_

“You can get out on your own. Pay the bail, call a lawyer, charm a guard, what do I care? Where's Erik?” 

_“In a hotel. They'll have a key waiting for you.”_

Wesley gave him the directions. It was a boutique hotel, expensive and secluded. Wesley started to say something but the line beeped, cutting him off and then there was just the hum of the empty line. Charles put the receiver down and got up. 

“Raven!”  
***

The door closed behind him, the electronic lock buzzing. He felt Erik's mental signature. It was as neutral and colorless as the room itself. Charles pulled his coat off and tossed it on the design sofa before walking to the bathroom.

The bathtub was angular, white shiny porcelain, which made the wax look dirty yellow in comparison. Charles didn't know how Wesley had managed it, but Erik was right under, nothing else visible but tips of his fingers resting over the crust, nose and mouth so he could breathe.

”Damn it Erik, what did you do?” Charles muttered, sitting at the edge of the tub and touching his hand. He reached to knock the edge of his mind, but then he thought better of it. If he roused him, Erik would struggle against the shell and if he wasn't healed yet, Charles would have to make a new shell for him. That would take time. 

”This runaway bride skit isn't that funny,” Charles said and brushed Erik's fingers carefully. “And neither is the tradition of a blackout stag night, you know.” 

There was no response, which considering the situation was a good sign. Charles reached for the phone. It had much more features than necessary and it took him a minute to figure it out. Finally he got a call through to the front desk and asked them to put him through to the police station.

_”We had W. Gibson, he was released half an hour ago on a PTA,”_ a tired voice informed him. 

Charles knew Wesley would vanish from their records in a next hour. He had contingency plans for these situations. Unless he found something amusing in the system. There had been one long month where Wesley had skipped court so he could get a cute bounty hunter after him. Of course that had ended badly. The bounty hunter had turned out to be associated with extremely capable fellow bounty hunter, interested about her doings. Charles had to pick up half-naked Wesley from an empty highway in the middle of a night, when he had to take a quick exit. 

Charles ended the call and punched in the number of Wesley's cell. It rang for a while, then connected to his voice mail.

”Call me. Or I'll come find you, and kick your ass,” Charles said cheerfully and ended the call. He looked at Erik. ”I know, you told me. Don't ask Wesley to be your best man. But I figured it would help to mend the rift between you two. Though, this is not exactly what I had in mind. What were you doing with him that landed you in the tub?”

There was no answer, not that Charles really expected one. He closed the lid on the toilet and sat down, stretching his legs. The tiles were sparkling white, the sink a round bowl. There were miniature packets of toiletries set in the counter and he reached to take the plastic wrapped toothbrush.

”Wesley paid the room. How about we steal all the soaps and empty the mini bar? Not what I imagined we would be doing today, but you know, I've always wanted to try throwing a television set out of the hotel window. Feels like a perfect day for that -”

The phone rang, with an odd bird like chirp. Charles reached to take it.

”Wesley?”

_”No, its Emma. Tell me he ran and Raven owes me hundred bucks.”_

”Don't count your winnings yet, Erik didn't run. Wesley got him banged up, that's all.” Charles got up and walked to the bedroom, looking for the minibar. ”Wedding is still on, but we have to push it back for a few hours. Which is why I need you to go help Raven call everyone.”

_”Why me? I just had my nails done. And its boring.”_

”Because you're my groomsman. Woman, person, whatever,” Charles said and grabbed the tiny bottle of gin and a can of tonic water. ”It goes with the job description.”

_”I only agreed to see that you make it to the altar in one piece,”_ Emma said, sounding annoyed. _“And by that, I meant acting as a human shield, not making phone calls.”_

Charles popped the can open and poured the bubbling water into a glass, adding the gin.

”You didn't read the fine print. Phone calls are also part of your duties,” he said and tasted the drink. It was strong. ”And if you see Wesley, feel free to punch him for me. In second thought, diamond punch him. Yes, that would be great. Do that.”

_”My pleasure. And you know I told you...”_

”...Don't ask Wesley to be the best man, yes. You can obviously do a far better job than he can, so keep that up and call Raven. Or better yet, get to the Mansion. Shouldn't you be there already?”

_”Yes, sure. I'm your biggest problem,”_ Emma sneered and hang up.

Charles sighed and considered for a moment if it would be satisfying to throw the phone across the room. Probably not. He took the drink and the phone back to the bathroom. Erik laid there as motionless and flat as he had left him. Charles sat back down and drank for a while in quiet. The phone chirped and he pressed the button.

_”You found him?”_

”I wouldn't answer this phone if I hadn't,” Charles pointed out. Wesley could be so dense sometimes. ”Where are you?”

_”In the lobby. Come down, we have a problem.”_

”No we don't,” Charles said, gulping the drink. ”You might have one by the time I get there.”

_”Would you listen to me? I didn't do this! Wait, are you drinking? Bit early, don't you think?”_

Charles ignored that. Like Wesley was the one to talk.

”How is this not your fault? Erik was fine, then one evening with you and he's stuck in the wax, and we were supposed to walk down the aisle in the afternoon! ”

_”I didn't beat him up,”_ Wesley pointed out. _”That woman had a serious beef with him.”_

”What woman?”

_”The woman who kicked the stuffings out of him. Now get down here, you don't have to babysit him. He's out of it for at least three hours. You do want your ring back, don't you?”_

”You lost my ring?”

_”Not me! He did. Just get down here,”_ Wesley said and hang up.

Charles leaned to put the phone back to its cradle. He sipped the drink one more time and left it on the counter.

”You are so lucky that I love you,” he said to Erik's still form. ”If I didn't, I would pull the plug from that tub. But as it happens, I can't do that. So. Don't worry, I'll be back soon.”

He took his coat and made sure he had the room key before letting the door close behind him. He took the short elevator ride downstairs and marched to the dining room. Wesley sat in the far end, at the table by the window, scarfing down a plate of food like he had been starved for days. The waitress stared at him and back to Wesley, then lead him to the table without a word.

”He'll have a coffee,” Wesley ordered when Charles sat down across him. “Are you hungry? These eggs are great.”

“Coffee is fine, thank you.” 

The waitress nodded, threw another curious glance at them and left to get the order. Charles looked Wesley over. His shirt was crumpled, he had a bruise under his eye, scraped knuckles and a folded trash bag sitting next to his elbow. He certainly stood out from the elegant interior. 

”What's with the money?” Charles asked, nodding toward the plastic bag.

”I won that, hands off.”

”Alright. Where's my ring?”

”I don't know, precisely,” Wesley said, biting into a sausage. “I didn't see everything, I only got there when the fight was almost over.”

”Who is this woman? And how the hell did she managed to put Erik in that state? He can fight.”

”Sure he can, no one can question the manliness of your future husband,” Wesley said and smirked. ”It's just that this woman was really good, and Erik was really drunk. That made the playing field uneven. I told him not to mix drinks. That never ends well.”

”And you did nothing?”

”Shut up, I got his back,” Wesley snapped. ”But I was drunk too, and then the whole hand-eye coordination thing went to hell, so it was damn hard to keep track. And like I said, she was frighteningly good. Trained, focused, set out to snap his neck. Couldn't fight us both though.”

”Why did you get arrested? You fight this mystery woman off, get Erik in the tub and then what? You went back out to get your ass kicked for the second time?”

”No, I got arrested because your stupid ring,” he said. ”I knew you would get all irrational about it. So I put Lehnsherr in the tub, and congratulations by the way, very impressive, and I went back to look for the ring.”

Charles reached calmly over the table and filliped the bruise under his eye.

“Ow! The hell?”

“Have some respect. You are referring to my fiance.” 

“Fine, relax,” Wesley said and rubbed his cheek. The waitress approached the table and slid the coffee cup in front of Charles. He looked at her and smiled. 

”In the room's tab, please. And feel free to add a generous tip to the bill.”

The waitress smiled brightly at him before continuing serving her tables. 

Wesley rolled his eyes at him but said nothing. Charles drank his coffee and while Wesley finished his breakfast. He dropped the fork on the plate and leaned back. 

“In any case, the ring wasn't on him, so either the woman stole it while kicking the crap out of him, which is unlikely, or he ditched it himself. I went back to look for it, and in the progress I kind of broke into a store. That's when the cops showed up.”

”If Erik hid the ring, you can't find it,” Charles noted, adding more sugar in his coffee. 

”Yes, I know that now. It felt like a good idea then.”

”I know your so called 'good ideas',” Charles scoffed. “I planned this day for months, and now its ruined because you couldn't keep Erik out of trouble for one night, is that what I'm hearing?”

”Calm down, you will get your perfect wedding. I called Raven, she said they'll make sure of it. The way Emma goes about it, everyone will end up thinking that the wedding was scheduled to start the time it will start.”

”She can't do that! The invitation contradicts her, and we will end up with a whole lot of confused minds!”

”Oh. I'm sure she thought how to handle it,” Wesley said and shrugged. ”She's a smart one.”

”Don't try to get in her pants. She'll cut your dick off.”

”I like that in a woman,” Wesley said, smirking. “Challenge is half the fun.” 

Charles sighed and gulped the coffee cup empty. There was no helping some people. It wasn't his business anyway, Wesley could spent his time with whoever he liked. Except Erik. After this, they would not go anywhere together without supervision, Charles made a mental note of it. 

”What do we need to do about this ring?” he asked.

“I suppose you are not ready to wait that Lehnsherr wakes up and tells you where it is?” 

“Where's my ring Wesley? I want it back.”

“I thought you would say that,” Wesley said and sighed, pushing the plate away. “In that case, I'll drive.”  
***

“Hardware store,” Charles said, watching the shop clerk swipe the broken glass from the pavement across the street. “He flung my ring into a hardware store.”

“See, this is why I can never decide if Lehnsherr is a brilliant tactician or an evil mastermind,” Wesley said. “I was in there for half an hour before the cops showed up, and I hardly got down the first aisle. This would be a whole lot easier if Lehnsherr did this.” 

“He'll be shaky after the tub. Before he gets here, someone could find the ring and take it. And we still have to drive back to the Mansion.” 

Wesley shrugged.

“He can make you an another ring in seconds.”

“No, I want this particular one,” Charles said. “It's the one he proposed to me with, and the one he will put on my finger. Besides, it's your duty as a best man to take care of the ring, so if its lost, it's on you. Also, you will pay for that window.”

“He broke it with your ring, you pay it.”

Charles stared at him.

“Fine! But don't expect a wedding gift,” Wesley scoffed and straightened up. “How should we do this, just walk in?”

“Leave it to me,” Charles said. He looked around the street. It was a quiet street, with small stores and coffee houses. Not the kind of neighborhood he had expected when Wesley had described the fight. “What were you doing in this part of town anyway?”

“There's a bar a block away. It's sort of... Private. You don't need to know. Other than Lehnsherr was a complete spoil sport all evening, and kept talking about you instead watching the entertainment.”

“That's where you win the money?”

“Charles, focus. The ring?” Wesley said, evading the topic. “You know, it was dark in the store, I couldn't really see a thing. It's possible that when Lehnsherr flung the ring in there, he knocked things around. That could help to narrow it down.”

“That is the first good idea I've heard from you all day,” Charles said. He walked across the street, Wesley following after him. The shop clerk looked up when they got closer. 

“Good morning,” Charles said. “Looks like a mess. What happened?”

“Some drunk smashed the glass in, happens every now and then. Go right in, we are open. There's a shop assistant inside, if you need any help.”

Charles nodded in thanks and went inside. The store was empty, the radio playing in the background. It wasn't a big place, but it was well stocked. Thousands of places for a ring to land.

“You know trajectories,” Charles said, looking around. “What do you think?”

Wesley looked around, the broken window, the way shelves were aligned. Charles waited. Wesley knew where the fight had been, what he had done last night. Educated guess was a better starting point than wandering around the store aimlessly. 

“We could start from the paint aisle.”

“Can't you do better than that?”

“It's not a bullet,” Wesley said. “And I don't know how Lehnsherr threw it. A ring could bounce around, and this side I searched last night. The paint aisle is as good bet as any.”

Charles walked around the shelves, looking around. Everything was in order, the shop assistant at the end of the row rearranging the items in quick, practiced manner. 

“Look at this,” Wesley said behind him and Charles turned. “Here.” Few spray cans on one shelf had long scratches on the side. They rummaged around the shelf, Wesley leaving cans crooked and Charles went after him, straightening them back the way they were. The shop assistant threw them few looks but Charles nudged her attention and she didn't come over to ask any questions. 

They looked everywhere but they couldn't find it. 

“Now what?” Wesley asked. 

“Miss, excuse me miss?” 

The shop assistant glanced up and walked over, looking suitably attentive. She thought they looked strange. Charles smiled at her. 

“Hi. I have lost my ring. My brother here, he's sure he dropped it in here somewhere. Any chance you would've come across it?”

“What kind of ring?”

“Smooth, about this wide? Inscription inside?”

“What did it say?”

“You find so many rings here that you have trouble telling them apart?” Wesley asked. The shop assistant smiled politely, ignoring him. 

“It has a date, initials,” Charles said. “Please, you found it, didn't you?”

She took the ring from her vest pocket. Charles couldn't help the sudden wave of relief. It was his ring. 

“I had to arranged that whole row this morning, and this was on the shelf, funny thing. I don't remember it being there when I left last night. It's like someone broke in here to leave this behind, you know?” 

“Imagine that,” Wesley muttered.

She held the ring out to him and Charles took it from her, closing his hand around it.

“Thank you so much, you don't know how important this is,” he said and out of whim, reached to hug her. She patted his back politely before pulling away. 

“Happy to help.”

“Wesley, give her the bag.”

“What? No way!”

“The bag Wesley. Now.” Charles stared him until he gave in, picking the folded plastic bag from his pocket and handing it to the shop assistant. 

“Well, no, I couldn't take anything...” she objected and Charles touched her hand, snaring her mind to him. She stared at him for a while, her mind easy to shape. She blinked and smiled.

“That's so nice, thank you!”

Charles nodded and left, pulling Wesley with him.

“What you made her think?”

“That the other small businesses in the are had a collection for them and wanted to help to pay the broken window. And she should forget the ring. Safer that way.”  
***

Charles closed the door behind him and threw his coat on the sofa. He went to the bathroom. The wax had turned slightly a transparent. Erik had managed to open his eyes, eyelashes caked with the wax and he kept blinking, the substance irritating his eyes. 

“Hi honey. How are you feeling?” Charles asked and sat at the edge of the tub, picking gently the chips away from his face so he could speak. Erik stared at him, the wax creaking when he tried to shift.

“Don't move, you still have few hours to go by the look of it,” Charles said, concentrating to brush away a crumb that threatened to fall to his eye. “I'll help you sleep, alright?”

“You're going to pull the plug?” Erik croaked. 

“I thought about it. But I found my ring, see?” he held his hand in his line of vision. “I have to marry you know, don't I? Don't worry, I'll stay with you.”

“Toss the tv?”

“You heard that too, did you? Well, I have to see about that. It would serve Wesley right, make him pay that, but I don't think the windows open.”

“More fun,” Erik muttered, his eyes drifting close. Charles leaned to press a light kiss in the corner of his mouth. 

“I'll have all the fun I need right here.”


End file.
